Jacob Gold, the Male Democratic State Committee Member/District Leader from Brooklyn’s 44th Assembly District (Flatbush, Kensington, Dahill/Albemarle, Windsor Terrace and Park Slope) announced his endorsement for Cynthia Nixon’s gubernatorial campaign against incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Gold, a Democratic State Committee member since 1975, is the senior member of the Democratic State Committee in Brooklyn and is believed to be the senior member in the entire state. Representing a high voting Democratic district, Gold casts 4,931 votes at the State convention at which the state party will endorse its choice for the Democratic nomination.
A candidate needs 25% of the votes cast at the state convention to get on the ballot without having to resort to the state’s burdensome petitioning requirements for statewide candidates.
Explaining his vote Gold said “I support Cynthia Nixon because it is the next logical step in advancing the agenda I’ve spent my entire life fighting for; justice, civil rights, working families, and housing, healthcare and educational opportunities for all. I’d also like the trains to run on time.”
Gold said as a Democratic Party official, his job is to help elect Democrats to implement such policies and for eight years Cuomo has done nothing to eliminate the greatest obstacle to the Democratic agenda, the Republican/IDC controlled State Senate.
“Until Cynthia Nixon embarrassed him into submission, the Governor did nothing for eight long years to force the IDC back into the Democratic Party. Before Cynthia began her campaign, the Governor had stood by and allowed the GOP assault on our Democratic agenda to continue. Frankly, by spurring the Governor into, at long last, doing what he should have done years ago, Cynthia Nixon has already done more for the Democratic Party in one week than Andrew has done in eight years,” said Gold.
The strong endorsement comes as Gold’s opponent in the district leader race, Doug Schneider, comes from the heart of Park Slope, ground zero for Brooklyn’s “progressive” politics movement. Schneider’s platform includes both being the most progressive in the race and also a reformer of county politics.
But Kings County Democratic Party Chair Frank Seddio, who is supporting Cuomo for governor, but is also close to Gold, said it appears there is some ageism in the new progressive liberal movement.
“To many of these so called progressives you can’t be a little older,” said Seddio. “The truth is Jake [Gold} is the original progressive. He’s been fighting the fight for the liberal progressive issues long before the progressives became progressives. I don’t understand what makes someone more progressive than Jake. Don’t tell me what you are going to do. Tell me what you did and Jake has already done it time and again,” said Seddio.
